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Book Review–Dial W for Wrangler

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About the Book:

Book: Dial W for Wrangler

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Fiction / Christian / Romance / Contemporary / Comedy

Release date: May 24, 2022

♥ Can one radio show host wrangle two hearts and help them beat as one? ♥

When Wade Garrett took over the family ranch, he knew he’d need help. He can tell you anything you need to know about breeding, raising, and selling cattle. He can even wrangle a wild horse or ten every year. He just can’t wrangle numbers into proper columns and have them all add up.

Enter Ainsley Jones. New in Sweetwater, the office manager from Los Angeles is out of her element and loves every second of it—except the moments when her boss can’t speak a civil word to her.

When Wade hears about the local Dial-a-Deal host and her ad-hock romantic advice success, he starts selling off everything he can find—even sneaks a few things out of Granny’s basement—just to have an excuse to call in and get Vi’s help.

Will this impromptu decluttering jag get rid of some of his personal baggage along with twenty sleeping bags and an antique egg scale? Enough for him to admit that she’s the one thing he doesn’t want to declutter from his life or his heart?

My Thoughts:

As I have said before, if Chautona Havig writes a book, I will read it. And, I will enjoy it. That is just a given. So, I’ve been looking forward to reading Dial W for Wrangler for a long time. Now, I don’t enjoy straight-up romance. If you take the romance out of a book and have nothing left, forget it. That’s not my style of book. However, I’m a sucker for helping people out when they beg for reviewers, and I just finished reading several of the kind of romance books that I don’t enjoy very much, because reviewers were needed. These books were all right, and I even enjoyed some of them—but I was sure looking forward to Wrangler at the end of the string! And, it was worth the wait. I started reading it—and started laughing!

Dial W for Wrangler is a book you won’t want to miss. It’s a short, easy read. This is a great book when you want something more on the fluffy side, but as I’ve come to expect from this author, there are some gems of wisdom in it, too. I loved Granny’s advice in chapter five about how a young man should deal with lustful thoughts—in fact, I might just copy that part of the book out and share it with the young men I’m blessed to call my sons! This book is full of good, clean humor. One of the first places I laughed out loud was in the first chapter: Di—yes, we’re Vi and Di. Yes, it gets confusing. Yes, we use it to torment Stan. Wouldn’t you? It was also fun to read a reference to The Ghosts of New Cheltenham and its sequels. The ghost story Wade told is hilarious. If I need a story to make me laugh sometime, I hope I remember this one!

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

USA Today Bestselling author of Aggie and Past Forward series, Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

More from Chautona:

Stay Tuned for This Radio Announcement

“Hello there. I’m Vi Willis with Dial-a-Deal on K-SWT out of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, and have I got an update for you.

“We’ve won an award! My boss is livid that it’s not for selling the most junk in the least amount of time, but hey. Can I help it if folks are tuning in from all over the country to listen in on the heart troubles of folks around here? So far, we’re credited with three engagements, six marriages, and a whopping thirty-five saved relationships! I don’t know who nominated us for that award, but thank you!

“Now look… there’s one small problem. This really is supposed to be a show for selling your old comic book collection or that garden wagon your husband just had to have until he discovered he really hates gardening. So, when you call in, can you please be sure you have an item to sell? Di, the operator who screens the calls? She’s under orders not to let any calls through without an actual item for sale.

“So declutter the junk from your closets, your garages, your barns and what have you as you try to declutter the troubles from your life, okay? Now… I’ve got Jeff Corbin on the line, let’s see what he’s got for us today….”

And that’s how it all started.

Well, sort of. You see, I spent six weeks at my mom’s house back in late 2019. And one of the things Mom did every day was listen to the Dial-a-Trade show. She never bought a thing, but she listened. And, since I was in the room, I learned a lot about that show.

Some people seemed to call a few times a week. I finally decided they were lonely and it was how they kept a connection with other people. Others were obviously selling things out of spite—ex boyfriends, girlfriends, or spouses beware!

Basically, it was a great way to get rid of stuff and a great way to figure out what was going on in the lives of folks in the area.

So, when Lisa Prysock reminded me that she’d invited me to be a part of this series, I knew immediately that my first book would most definitely include a radio host for a sale show who just can’t help but solve people’s relational problems.

To purchase your copy, click here.

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Product Review–Super Teacher Worksheets

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Twenty thousand or more worksheets all ready to use? What a useful resource! I have been exploring Super Teacher Worksheets for a little over a month now, finding useful pages for my children to do. All of these printable PDF files are available for one inexpensive subscription, and cover all subject areas (math, reading, writing, spelling, social studies, science, and more), for grades k-5. Basically, anything a child needs to brush up on can be found on this amazing site filled with all sorts of printables.

My children do well enough in math that they haven’t needed any supplemental help. I looked over the offerings briefly, though, and there are printables for anything children in these grades might need to do. There are even pages with a story problem for each day, or five different math problems to do every day to keep concepts fresh in children’s minds. Of course, there are plenty of pages to practice the main math functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

There is a large section of reading comprehension helps. These include a short story, followed by comprehension questions, vocabulary words, and a short writing prompt (such as three things that help you sleep, after reading a story about sheep helping a girl go to sleep).

The language section was one I found helpful. I printed some of the “Fix It Sentences” for Little Miss to work on. She enjoyed finding the mistakes and correcting them. I also used one of the writing prompts for her. It was the day our writing group was to meet, and she hadn’t written a story yet. She had no idea what to write about, so I printed this page and she dictated a story to me. The story got quite long—it continues most of the way down the back of the page! We’ll be going to that section of Super Teachers Worksheets again.

The phonics section has many, many printables for every letter of the alphabet, as well as resources for teaching blends and digraphs. There are also games, mini-books, and other tools for practicing word families. The section of the site we went to most was the Early Literacy tab. Miss Joy wants me to print pictures (multiple!) for her every day. She colors some, and cuts out all of them. I normally limit her to one a day, but she is nearly insatiable. We found some nice pictures of farm animals in this section, which are actually intended for writing practice. She isn’t ready for that, of course (she turns three this week), but she just ignores the lined part of the page. Little Miss loved the pages that have a printed crown for each letter of the alphabet, with pictures that start with that letter. She made a couple of them for herself.

There are also printable spelling lists, chapter book literature units, and many science topics. There is a section of social studies resources, such as studies of explorers, or maps, and some studies of various holidays. I didn’t end up looking into these sections.

The favorite section for my boys is the puzzles & brain teasers tab. I found some rebus puzzles there and printed a page, which I left lay on the table for someone to discover. Mr. Sweetie found it, picked it up, and was immediately intrigued. He wanted all the rebus pages printed for him to think about! Those are a good way to think about things in a different, out-of-the-box way.

Super Teacher Worksheets are a great resource for those times when you need quick, easy printables to brush up on a topic and don’t have the time or brain space to come up with your own. Click the image below to read about other families’ opinions about this amazing site.

Click here to read more reviews!

Product Review–Progeny Press

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I think the first time I ever heard of Progeny Press was while I was teaching at a small Christian school for two years just before I got married, and a friend loaned me a homeschool supply catalog. Though I had been homeschooled all the way through, I had never even heard of literature studies, other than the two times a book was assigned in the Language Arts curriculum my mother had used, and the idea of a unit study based on a book was very intriguing to me. Of course, I had been quite a bookworm for nearly 20 years by that time, so I loved any excuse to read another book! I never got to actually look at a Progeny Press guide, though, until two years ago when we reviewed the one for A New Coat for Anna. We enjoyed that so much that last year I volunteered to review the one for Wagon Wheels, one of our favorite easy readers. This year, we got to use two guides, The Story About Ping Study Guide (one of our all-time favorite picture books), and Farmer Boy Study Guide. We have always loved the Little House books, so no one minded hearing that one read again.

Both guides begin with a synopsis and some background about the author. Then, there is a page of prereading activities. We didn’t do all of them, but we did find the locations on a map and talk about the cultural background a little. With The Story About Ping, we spent some time learning about ducks. Next, we read the story. Ping is a picture book, so we read it all in one setting—actually, I think we’ve read it three times since we started the study! Farmer Boy is a lot longer, so we’re reading a chapter a day. The activities for this one are divided into sections of about four chapters each, so we don’t work in the study every day, but when we have finished reading a group of chapters, I have the boys answer the questions for that section. Each study ends with a list of related books to go along with the topic, and there is an answer key in a separate file. These study guides come as a PDF file. They are fillable on the computer, but as you can see here, I printed them. Our family does much better with physical products for learning, but if I was to use these study guides for high school literature, I would probably have my children fill them out digitally.

Because Ping is a picture book, it doesn’t take very long to answer the questions about the story. There are a couple of pages of vocabulary work first, and then comprehension questions. After that, we studied the artwork, and then there is a section of Bible study. After that are fun pages. There is a word search, a maze, and some coloring pictures, and then suggested activities if you want to go even farther. These include doing a water safety class, visiting a poultry farm, and a couple of art/craft projects. This guide was created for K-2 students.

Farmer Boy is a fairly long book. We haven’t made it through the entire study yet, but we’ll keep plugging away at it. Each section of chapters has a variety of different types of questions. These include vocabulary word study, questions about the characters, comprehension questions, and several that make the student think hard. There are also suggested activities at the end of each section, such as making stacked pancakes like Almanzo’s mother did, or making a birthday card. The final projects at the end of the study offer several ideas for essays. This study guide is for grades 4-6.

Progeny Press has done a very good job of putting together these guides. They are a great way to practice language skills in the context of an engaging story. I really like them as a supplement to the other things we are doing for Language Arts. Click the image below to read other families’ reviews of these, plus two more book studies.

Click here to read more reviews!

Ancient Egypt

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A little over a year ago, we started working through a Project Passport study from Home School in the Woods, about Ancient Egypt. We worked on it off and on until about April, when we finally finished it (we were alternating one of these stops with a science lesson, a geography lesson, and a few writing lessons–one “extra” a day). I’ve been intending ever since we finished to share some photos of the final products, and finally got them taken today.

This was one of our biggest projects. We all worked together to build this temple. It was quite interesting to see the different parts of it!

Each of the children made their own model of the step pyramid, and wrote a paragraph about it. Interestingly, there is a theory that Imhotep was actually Joseph! (This was Little Miss’s model.)

After we finished the study, we assembled lap books with all the mini books we had been making through the entire study. These lap books are made from a file folder with card stock taped inside to make more pages. Can you guess whose this book is? Clue: the boys don’t like the color pink!

These are the mini books we put inside–aren’t they creative! I love using the things that Home School in the Woods comes up with.

We also wrote a newspaper. We added a couple of articles or pictures to it with each lesson. This was a good way to review what we had learned.

We also did other projects that didn’t go into the lap book. We stored these in 2- or 3-ring binders.

We didn’t end up doing most of these projects. We just cut out the cards and put them in our books. One was to make a reed boat; someone did get around to doing that, but I forgot to get a picture of it.

We added to a timeline all the way through the study, too. It was quite easy to see where to put the figures, and quite interesting to look at how historical events fit together.

We added a postcard to our rack for each lesson. Some had funny stories–the most memorable was the one about the pharoah being annoyed by the hippos roaring hundreds of miles away!

We also added places to our map as we went. We put glue on the Nile River, and added black pepper to represent the silt that overflowed from the Nile each year during the Inundation.

We thoroughly enjoyed doing this project, so much so that, even though we didn’t get a project from Home School in the Woods for review this year (instead, we got the timeline set I reviewed a few weeks ago), the school children wanted to do something and I bought a lap book set about the Wonders of the World. We’re enjoying working through that, and I’ll post pictures when we finish it.

Book Review–Off the Itinerary Series

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Welcome to the Blog Tour for Off the Itinerary series by M. Liz Boyle, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE SERIES

Title: Avalanche
Series: Off the Itinerary #1
Author: M. Liz Boyle
Publisher: Independently Published
ReleaseDate: September 26, 2019
Genre: Christian middle-grade/YA, Adventure
“Avalanche surprised me with its depth…a 5-star read…” -For the Love of Literature
Five friends. One moonlit summit. An unforgettable journey. Excitement hangs in the air as Marlee and her sisters join their friends on a daring hike up a Colorado mountain – in the middle of the night. When Sawyer first proposes the idea of a moonlit summit during the two families’ annual backpacking trip, Marlee is terrified but also hooked. Having grown up taking trips to the mountains, they’ve learned a thing or two about hiking, and Sawyer is confident they’ll be back by sunrise. But when disaster strikes, their knowledge, faith, and stamina will be put to the test. Digging out of the cemented snow is the first of many challenges in the coming days, and now Marlee has to trust Sawyer, who, by the way, was the brain behind the dilemma. Will their faith and friendship survive, or will they cave under pressure? This engaging journey, told by fifteen-year-old Marlee Stanley, captures a timeless sense of adventure. The five young adults strive to exhibit godly character throughout their escapade, but it will take immense strength to hike out of this mess. “I know that if their journey inspired me, it will certainly inspire others…Boyle has brought YA fans an uplifting, adventurous novel.” -A Baker’s Perspective

I wrote a review of this book a few years ago; see my review here.
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository |

Title: Chased
Series: Off the Itinerary #2
Author: M. Liz Boyle
Publisher: Independently Published
Release Date: June 1, 2020
Genre: Christian middle-grade/YA, Adventure
“Chased would be a great addition to a k-12 Christian school library. Middle schoolers and up will enjoy it.” – Library Lady’s Kid Lit
It’s been a year since Marlee, her sisters, and the Miles boys survived an avalanche. Sure, it was a little embarrassing for them when all the neighbors saw them on the news, but they love being outdoors, and what are the odds that another tragedy would strike this adventurous group? Has anyone calculated the statistics of being hit with two natural disasters? It has to be low, so of course the two families planned to backpack again this summer. When the teens first meet Thad, a dehydrated hiker on the trail, they give him water and food and help him recover. He seems harmless until he tells them to hike a few extra miles at sunset. Then Lydie finds a hand-drawn map that Thad dropped, and they discover why he is so eager to get away from the Stanley girls and Miles boys. So eager that he starts chasing them. Now they have to climb up unforgiving ridges, sneak through the night, and – is that thunder and lightning? To make matters worse, Marlee has a nagging worry that her older sister Ellie is preparing to move away from home. What is God’s plan? How will they get away from Thad before it’s too late?
“…realistic, exciting, and suspenseful…Chased is the perfect sequel to Avalanche. It’s gripping, suspenseful, entertaining, and, best of all, Christian.” -David M., Beta Reader

My Review:

A couple of years ago, I reviewed the first book in the Off the Itinerary series, Avalanche. I tried reading it aloud to my children, but the boys got pretty disgusted with it and I quit reading it to them. When more reviewers were needed now for the rest of the series, I decided to read them—but not aloud!

There isn’t quite as much about boyfriends/girlfriends in this book, although Marlee talks a lot of times about how Ellie and Sawyer like each other a lot. They aren’t officially a couple yet, but she’s sure they are headed that way. I did appreciate some of the conversations about this topic; it seemed like these young people had fairly strong convictions about what was right and wrong. Once, Marlee thanked Sawyer for being a good example to the younger ones.

Another thing I appreciated was Marlee’s mental discussion (with herself) about having cared for a person and saved his life, and then he turned against them. She had to keep reminding herself that they had done the right thing, what Jesus would have done.

As far as Young Adult fiction goes, the Off the Itinerary series seems to be very good. I liked Chased better than Avalanche, although probability is stretched a bit. It’s well-written, though, and a very clean book. I’m very happy to find a YA book that isn’t fantasy! I am allowing my 12-year-old to read the series.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookDepository

Title: Ablaze
Series: Off the Itinerary #3
Author: M. Liz Boyle
Publisher: Independently Published
Release Date: June 1, 2020
Genre: Christian middle-grade/YA, Adventure
“M. Liz Boyle tackles the topic of showering difficult people with grace and forgiveness, making this a must-read for Christian teens. Adventure seekers who loved Avalanche and Chased will fall head-over-heels for the adventure that heats up in Ablaze!” – Author Allyson Kennedy
This summer the Stanley sisters and the Miles boys are excited to hike together again, and now they have the unique opportunity to help two of their ranger friends with an outdoor program in the beautiful Montana mountains. Marlee has always considered herself a willing follower. Give her a direction and she’s happy to help. Her older sister Ellie is a natural leader, and Marlee is content in her role as assistant. Marlee and her sisters have been assigned to help with Ranger Rose’s team, and they are savoring the adventure. But in a heartbeat while the group is divided by a few hundred feet, fire breaks out between Ranger Rose and Marlee’s group. In this enthralling finale to the Off the Itinerary series, Marlee must face her fears with courage that only God can provide.

My Review:

Young Adult books are one category I often find to be annoying. Most seem to be fantasy or dystopian, and I don’t like either of those genres. Most others focus heavily on romance. Because I don’t appreciate that, either, I have not found many YA books that I really liked or could recommend. Enter… the Off the Itinerary series. While these books are not free of romance, either, the main focus is adventure. I heard a definition once of straight-up romance as being books in which, if you removed the romantic element there wouldn’t be a story left. While there is romance in Ablaze, it is definitely not the main focus.

All throughout this story, Marley learns a lot about love, forgiveness, and extending grace to those who don’t deserve it. She also has a lot of adventures, and a lot of serious conversations. I was inspired by the things Marlee learned about being a leader. In one paragraph, she realized, “Sometimes leading is simply serving…. Great leaders aren’t always famous or rich. Leaders just care about their group.” Such a good point! There’s also a lot of humour; I was laughing out loud at one scene. This story explores a lot of issues that teenagers are thinking and need to be thinking about. Friendship, love, forgiveness, unconditional love, and the choice of a life partner factor in. Though there is a fair amount of discussion about boyfriend/girlfriend issues, it is healthy discussion and very clean. There was one time there were a few hugs between Marley and Marshall. I appreciated that there is no kissing in the whole story. Teenagers who love adventure stories, especially girls, will enjoy Ablaze as well as the rest of the Off the Itinerary series.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

M. Liz Boyle is an author, the wife of a professional tree climber and the mom of three energetic and laundry-producing children. She received her Associate’s of Arts at the University of Sioux Falls, where she received the LAR Writing Award for her essay entitled, “My Real Life Mufasa.” Liz once spent a summer in Colorado teaching rock climbing, which she believes was a fantastic way to make money and memories. She resides with her family in Wisconsin, where they enjoy hiking and rock climbing. Liz and her husband have also backpacked in Colorado and the Grand Canyon, which have provided inspiration for her writing. She likes making adventurous stories to encourage others to find adventures and expand their comfort zones (though admittedly, she still needs lots of practice expanding her own comfort zone). She has thoroughly enjoyed working on the Off the Itinerary series.Connect with Liz by visiting mlizboyle.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.

Book Review–Book, Chapter & Vows

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About the Book:

Book: Book, Chapter, & Vows

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance

Release date: July 26, 2022

Falling in love with Benjamin wasn’t in the plan, but Mallory finds she’s all but lost her head and her heart after two and a half years of banter, memories, and now shared books.

But when her ex-fiance (does it count if it was just for a few hours?) shows up right in the middle of a writing project with Benjamin, the guy manages to ruin her happiness… again.

Benjamin has been keeping one tiny part of him back from Mallory–just the one thing that’ll repel her for good.
So when the ex-boyfriend-slash-fiance shows up, and things look serious again, he takes a giant step back and prays he can keep his heart intact in the process.

They’re clearly meant for each other. God obviously has a plan. So what’s it going to take for Mallory and Benjamin to work things out and get those vows made?

This Breakers Head novel is Chautona Havig’s final book in the Independence Islands Series featuring five islands, six authors, and a boatload of happily-ever-afters.

My Thoughts:

Have I ever enjoyed the trip through the Independence Islands with Mallory! I have loved every one of these books, getting to know Mallory and her many friends. Each book in the series has focused on a different couple, but Mallory has always been an important character, and Benjamin has come into the story more and more with each book. When I finished Finding a Memory, I wanted to read the next installment right away—but it took time for Book, Chapter, and Vows to be written. Finally, the wait is over and I have been able to learn the truth about the mystery Benjamin and Mallory discovered in the last chapter of that book. Whew!

By now, two and a half years on, Mallory’s mobile book store and coffee shop is doing fairly well. She has been able to get Benjamin to read a lot of books, and they can talk in her love language now. They are working together on a writing project to preserve memories of Uncle Bud (one of my all-time favorite book characters!), and she is loving the romantic relationship that has been developing. And then… someone shows up. Mallory does not want to see her ex-fiance again, and now he is pushing his way into her life.

Benjamin has a secret he has been keeping from Mallory. He was about to tell her, but then Trevor shows up. How can he bear to give Mallory the space to decide between them—but he knows he needs to. And, he still hasn’t told her his secret; it will surely push her away and end things between them. Meanwhile, there is that secret they discovered about Uncle Bud to unravel. Can they still work together enough to solve the mystery?

Oh, I loved this story. I stayed up a bit too late a couple of nights to finish this book because I loved it so much. It’s a very satisfying end to Chautona’s Independence Islands series. I greatly enjoyed the frequent references to books throughout this story, including Things We Didn’t Say, which was a book I loved last year. I also loved watching Benjamin and Mallory trying to work out their differences, and seeing Lyla from Dual Power of Convenience again. What a fun story!

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

USA Today Bestselling author of Aggie and Past Forward series, Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

More from Chautona:

It Happened AGAIN!

I remember the first book I had trouble finishing. Beneath the Cloak. It was the last book of the Wynnewood series, and I was dying to reveal the big secret that had been a big part of the story line. I spent hours writing very few words. Someone asked if I had writer’s block, but I didn’t. I knew every word I wanted to put on that page, but I kept procrastinating.

For weeks. We’re talking long, agonizing weeks.

Finally, I realized a significant part of why I hadn’t finished was because I didn’t want to. I didn’t want the series to end. Say goodbye to beloved characters? Agony, okay? I wanted to spend the rest of my life in Wynnewood seeing what happened with all the characters and all the things that would happen.

I just wanted to write a bunch of other books, too. What can I say? It’s a thing.

So, as I dove into writing the book I’ve been dying to write since I penned the opening scene of Christmas on Breakers Point, you’d think I’d have been prepared for the inevitable. I mean, it’s happened with several other series since that first time, so… yeah. All ready to combat the problem, right? Not hardly.

To be fair, I was also coming off being very sick, my mother being even sicker, so being crazy behind on everything. I mean, that had a lot to do with it taking so long to get going on it. But once I did, I’d type like crazy and then ignore it for a day or two before the story demanded more telling.

Then, just as I neared the big scene of Book, Chapter, & Vows… I went nuts on doing everything but finishing that book. No joke. I did. Sigh. Again, you think I’d learn.

After much soul searching and even more wailing at God about the cruelty of it all (I was in a dramatic mood, okay?), the solution came to me. Okay, God smacked me upside the head with a 2×4 of memories on how I solved every other, “don’t wanna finish this series” crisis.

See, way back with Wynnewood, the only thing that got me to the finish line was a promise I made to myself. “It doesn’t have to end here. You can write more if you want to. There’s nothing to say you can do ‘Wynnewood, the Later Years’ or something like that.”

Just that one promise to myself that I didn’t have to say goodbye was all it took for me to get back on that trusty old Toshiba laptop and pound out those last few chapters.

And here I was again, not ready to say goodbye to a series—to these islands that feel so crazy real to me. I didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters and their quirky ways. Would you?

Now… you’re going to laugh at me. Go ahead. I mean, I did. See here’s the deal. I didn’t have to make that promise to myself again. “What?” you say? “What do you mean?”

Yeah. I don’t have to say goodbye to the characters or the islands. Why? Because we have another island series coming, the Suamalie Islands, and Mallory is going to visit those islands.

If that isn’t enough for me, I have another series all planned for the Independence Islands, too! Yeah. That. I mean, what was I not thinking?

As soon as I thought of that, I was able to get in there, get the last few scenes written and pass it off to the fabulous Christy for her editorial magic. As for me, I think I’m going to go play around just a little bit with one of the Josie Parker Mysteries. I mean, why not?

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July 2022 Photos

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For some reason, I often end up with only a few photos in July. It’s the middle of winter, so maybe there just isn’t that much that’s inspiring to take pictures of? Here are the few I found in my picture folder.

This is Mr. Sweetie, with Mr. Imagination’s cockatiel, Jo-Jo, on his shoulder. Jo-Jo prefers to sit on the organizers on top of my desk, or on a high cupboard, and watch what happens in the house, but sometimes Mr. Sweetie can coax him onto his shoulder like this.

Mr. Sweetie borrowed a book from a friend. He read it, and then Mr. Imagination picked it up and read the whole book. When they were going to return it, Little Miss found it in the van, and she read the whole book, too! If you know anything about the struggles I had teaching a couple of our older boys to read, you’ll know how much this picture means to me.

One day, the girls were playing on our street with the go-cart. First, Little Miss pushed Miss Joy around–and then they reversed! I tried to get a picture when I could see both their faces, but wasn’t fast enough.

Last Sunday after we came home from church, Miss Joy laid down on the floor and went to sleep. It was late enough that we had decided not to have her go down for a nap, but she obviously needed one!

This was about a month ago. She was so tickled to be able to “read” me this book! She had done a better job a day or two before, “reading” it to me, and wasn’t real thrilled about reading it again, but I coaxed her to and she obliged. I held the iPad above her head to get this clip, so she wouldn’t know what I was doing.

Snowball Fight

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Last weekend, we went over the hill (to the other side of the mountains) to visit friends. On the way home, we stopped near the top of the pass to play in the snow. There wasn’t a lot, but enough pockets of it here and there among the grass and bushes that we could have a rousing snowball fight. What fun! I hadn’t done that in probably 20 or 25 years. I’m a very poor aim!

This was the first time Miss Joy had ever been close to snow, and she enjoyed her experience!

Esther took several video clips with her phone, and I put them together here. The last bit was when Mr. Sweetie threw a snowball at her, and she dropped her phone. The screen protector cracked, but the phone itself was uninjured.

We were right beside this beautiful little lake. We often stop here as we go over the mountains, and enjoy the scenery for a few minutes.

We had to stop in Reefton, because Miss Joy was feeling sick. After she walked both directions over this swing bridge, she was fine and we could drive the last half hour home.

Product Review–WordBuild Online

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

The subject my children have struggled with the most is spelling. Can anyone relate to our struggles? I would guess so! Even the children who have caught on to reading very easily are still spelling their words rather wildly, with little or no heed paid to the rules I have tried to teach them. I don’t know what the problem is, but I do know it is frustrating! Because we have such a struggle with this, I was happy to receive complimentary subscriptions to WordBuild Online from Dynamic Literacy.

There are two basic levels included: Foundations and Elements. Foundations focuses on prefixes and suffixes; Elements goes into the Greek and Latin roots that make up the English language. All three of my school children have started out in Foundations 1, although technically Mr. Sweetie, who is reading at a sixth-grade level, could have gone into Elements 1. I felt like he needed the practice with English prefixes, though.

There are 25 units in Foundations 1. Each focuses on on prefix or suffix. So far (I think they are all at about the same place), they have practiced prefixes such as over-, under-, un-, and re-, among others, and last week they were working with some suffixes, like -er and -est. I’m having each of them spend 10-15 minutes a day on these lessons, just getting through what they can in that time. I’ve been a little surprised at the lack of resistance I’ve encountered! Usually, none of them wants to do anything in the way of spelling or grammar, but all three are cheerful about doing a lesson of WordBuild Online each day.

Foundations 1 is introduced with a 2-minute video. This video presents the concepts of graphemes (the letters we write), phonemes (the sounds of the letters), and morphemes (meanings of parts of words), and teaches the meaning of prefixes and suffixes.

There are five main activities that are supposed to help cement the concept of each prefix/suffix. First, there is a short introductory video explaining what the affix means and how to use it. I’m not sure of the order of the remaining activities; one great thing about this program is that children can use it on their own, without any help from Mom, so I haven’t had to pay much attention! One activity involves matching the affix with root words and then typing in a definition of the new word. Another has them choose a sentence in which the new word is used correctly. Another has them match the words with the proper definitions.

We have been using our laptops and the iPad to do these lessons. The laptops have been the best tool, we’ve found. We have had some trouble, while using the iPad, of being sent back to the login screen when entering an answer. I haven’t been able to troubleshoot this; it could be that Little Miss accidentally hits the wrong button on the touch screen. This has never happened on a laptop.

We have not used Elements yet, of course; there are two or three Foundations levels to work through before reaching that level. A couple of the children were accidentally placed in Elements at the beginning, though, so we watched the introductory video. I found it quite interesting! It explains why English is so hard to read and spell (blame it on the Normans in 1066!). The teacher explains that we need to learn to spell English by meanings, rather than the way a word sounds. I had never thought about it that way before, but it sure makes sense!

So, the big question is always: Does this course work? Will my children know how to spell better after they complete WordBuild Online? I don’t know yet. Mr. Sweetie is convinced it won’t. He claims that there are mistakes that will keep the younger ones from learning; for him, it is too simple. He does admit that the program is “tolerable!” We haven’t used it long enough to know for sure, though. It certainly does offer more reinforcement for what I have been trying to teach them in their workbooks, and is easy enough that I will continue having them do it. This program is a welcome addition to our Language Arts repertoire, something I was needing without knowing it. And, hopefully I’ll be able to tell, in a year’s time, whether or not it helped! Be sure to click the image below to read other families’ reviews of this program.

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Product Review–Printable “Essential Timeline Library”

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I believe this is the fourth or fifth year in a row that we have been able to choose a product to review from Home School in the Woods. We have come to love their projects. For example, last year we got to use the Ancient Egypt study from their Project Passport World History Study series. It took us until a couple of months ago to complete the course, and we didn’t mind taking a break, but my school children were happy to hear that we would get the chance to choose something again this year. Instead of choosing a project like that, though, I decided to request the Printable “Essential Timeline Library”. The children were interested enough in doing the Wonders of the World LapPak, though, that I ended up buying that as well (watch this space for a post about it when we’re finished, in a few months!).

The Essential Timeline Library is amazing! I have actually been using their timeline figures ever since we started homeschooling, back in about 2003 or 2004, when Esther was about 5 years old. We had discovered Sonlight Curriculum, and one of the items included with each core is a set of timeline figures to stick onto a timeline or into a book. We’ve been using them ever since, on various styles of timelines. This year, we’re using the Mystery of History, and I was trying to figure out a way to create timeline figures to put into a timeline book to go along with our studies. Voila! It’s done for me! On the Home School in the Woods website, they actually have a page listing all the timeline figures needed to go along with the volume of MOH that we’re using, organized by lesson! What a find. That makes my life so much simpler! And, I noticed that Home School in the Woods actually sells sets of timeline figures specifically tailored to the 3rd and 4th volumes of MOH.

One of the folders included in the Essential Timeline Library is a printable timeline book. It comes in two different formats, horizontal and vertical. There are clear instructions/suggestions for printing and using it. I tend to end up doing things my own way, though, and, because I already had a timeline book printed and we have been using it, I made a wall timeline. I printed the pages for about 50 BC through AD 1000, and glued them together, then punched holes along the top and strung a string through to hang this timeline on the wall in the kitchen. Then, I printed timeline figures to match those years, and every so often, while I’m reading aloud, I have the children color and cut out several to glue onto the timeline.

I have a friend who also uses these figures. They have a long, narrow hallway in their house, so she painted a line down one wall and penciled in a few dates. They colored and cut out the figures, and fastened them to the wall at the appropriate places. I asked her if I could share a picture of it, because I love the idea so much.

The timeline figures themselves are very easy to use. Each set comes with several options for printing. You can choose larger pictures, to put on a wall, or smaller ones, to put into a book. Each of those options comes with two options, as well: with or without descriptive text! The descriptive text is usually two or three sentences. Each figure, of course, has a title and date, as well.

There are seven main folders within the Essential Timeline Library download. The first two are HTTA-CD1 and HTTA-CD2. In the first one, are folders for each collection of timeline figures. These are America, Bonus, Creation to Christ, Napoleon to Now, and Resurrection to Revolution. Another folder in this folder contains links to indexes of the figures—very helpful! I printed all those indexes for quick reference. The second main folder, HTTA-CD2, holds, I believe, all of the timeline figures included in the first folder, but each one is a full-page picture. If one of my children wants a coloring picture to go along with our history read-aloud, I’ll have it! These are organized in alphabetical order, while in the first folder, each sub-folder is organized chronologically.

Next, I found the Record of Time Timeline Notebook. This is the printable notebook I mentioned. Covers are also included. The fourth folder is a Suggested Placement Guide, with photographs of each page of the timeline notebook. The last three folders are Add-On Paks, with more figures from all of history. I was happy to find an index for each!

The Essential Timeline Library is a resource I’ll be using the rest of the time I homeschool! It is very helpful. I love the clear pictures and the ease of using this. All we need is a printer and paper, and we have the figures we need, without needing to draw anything or locate pictures online or in books.

If you want to know what we thought about some of the other products we have used from Home School in the Woods, check out my reviews of a couple of the items from their A La Carte collection, a timeline of the American Revolution, one of the Time Travellers U. S. History Studies, the Knights Lap-Pak, and, of course, the Ancient Egypt study I mentioned at the beginning of this review. Also, be sure to click on the image below and read other families’ reviews.

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